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New OMB report lacks details on sequestration cuts

By
Jack Moore

Speculation about how automatic budget cuts known as sequestration would be spread
across government has been swirling for the past year and half.

And even now that the across-the-board cuts have gone into effect, specifics on
exact numbers for how agency programs will be affected are hard to come by.

In a March 1 report to Congress,
accompanying President Barack Obama's signing of the official sequestration order,
the Office of Management and Budget provided an updated breakdown of how the cuts
would be applied.

However, as with the Sequestration Transparency Report, which the White House
released in September and which was the first detailed account of how
sequestration would play out, the latest report details reductions only down to
the budget account level — not to the more granular program, project and
activity level.

Sequestration will cut $85 billion from agencies' budgets for the rest of the
fiscal year. That amounts to a 7.8 percent cut to Defense agencies and a 5 percent
cut to civilian agencies, according to the latest OMB report.

However, the report varies in the level of detail describing cuts to specific
agency budget accounts.

Defense acquisition and procurement accounts across the services will also take a
hit — in some cases, to the tune of billions of dollars.

Homeland Security Department

Operations at the Homeland Security Department would also face some reductions.

About $479 million in funding for departmental operations is subject to
sequestration, according to the OMB report. That means a $24 million cut.

More specifically, the office of the DHS chief information officer (allotted $324
million in funding) is due for a $16 million cut under sequestration.

Smaller agencies as well would feel their operations affected.

The White House's budget shop, the Office of Management and Budget, would itself
be forced to take a $5 million cut.

The General Services Administration, the federal government's landlord, would see
reductions to its Federal Buildings Fund and and its program to dispose of surplus
property. However, those reductions are expected to total less than $500,000.

The $58 million allotted for the GSA IG's office, which notably uncovered wasteful
conference spending last year, would be cut by $3 million.

The $12 million E-Government Fund, which supports data transparency efforts, such
as USASpending.gov, will be cut by about $1 million. GSA's $34 million Citizen
Services Fund, which provides funding for many of the government's public-facing
websites and technology platforms, would be reduced by $2 million.